What is the main conflict in Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters?

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Barbara Mertz, (whose pseudonym is Elizabeth Peters) is the first of her Amelia Peabody series of a Victorian era woman learning the science of Egyptology. Amelia Peabody had no intention of becoming an Egyptologist. Rather, she is much more interested in doing the things that she would like to do. She spent most of her youth caring for her aging father, who eschewed the mores of his time and taught Amelia scholarship. With the inheritance she receives after her father's death, Amelia wishes to see the world that she and her father had studied for so many years, starting with Rome, Italy. In Rome, Amelia meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a gentlewoman who is destitute and dispossessed. In true Amelia Peabody style, Amelia takes Evelyn under her wing and installs her as her new traveling companion. Amelia and Evelyn are as different as night from the day, yet their friendship flourishes into a sisterly fondness for one another.